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Strong economy boosts Trump

In the year 2016, the economy of the United States simply served as a punching bag for Donald Trump who was the candidate at that time. Today, it has become a lifeline for an otherwise embattled presidency. Donald Trump has increasingly grabbed for that line, touting low unemployment, record high stock market values and healthy economic growth rates in speeches and all over his tweets. The reactions from voters, even some who are otherwise skeptical of the president, show how the strong performance of the economy has bolstered the standing of the president of the United Sates. At a recent focus group that Peter Hart who is a long time Democratic pollster, conducted in Wilmington, NC, for Emory University, even participants who voted for Donald Trump in the previous year sharply criticized his administration in this year and referred to it as chaotic, embarrassing and disappointing at the same time. Out of the five voters for Donald Trump among a dozen participants, only one still strongly supports the president. The harsh critiques from the other four followed a pattern that Hart found earlier this year which actually illustrates how a part of Trump's voters, mostly college educated and whites lying in the middle & the upper income group have turned against him only because of his behavior.

On the other hand, when the subject turned to the economy, opinions about Trump warmed noticeably. Katrina Harrell who is a 38-year-old black self-employed businesswoman who voted for Hillary Clinton last year said that Donald Trump wants to bring to the economy jobs like infrastructure, construction etc. Harrell was very critical of almost all other aspects of the administration, but on the economy, she gave a lot of credit to Trump. She said that these moves are good and what Trump knows very well is business. Another voter of Clinton Jacob Eubank a 35-year-old, white administrator at the University of North Carolina campus in Wilmington had a similar point of view about Donald Trump. He said that Trump is very good for the stock market. Michael Leimone a 41-year-old cook who voted for Trump last year now finds him disappointing but praised his economic record. He said that Trump is turning the economy in the correct direction. Comments like that exasperate Democratic officials, who say that there is little evidence to back Trump's claim that his appointment has worked and turned around the economy of the United States.